du Plessis, Karin and Corney, Tim (2011) Blue collar apprentices and bullying: experiences of bullying and its relation to resilience, satisfaction and self-rated health. In: Apprentices: Young people in transition. Corney, Tim and du Plessis, Karin, eds. Incolink and Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, Calton, VIC, pp. 129-154.

Abstract

Workplace bullying has been acknowledged as an occupational health and safety issue in Australia and internationally. However, the phenomenon of bullying among construction industry apprentices, particularly in relation to work satisfaction, life satisfaction and self-rated health, is an under-examined area. Using a mixed-methods approach, two preliminary studies were therefore conducted to examine bullying among apprentices. Study one highlights the incidence of bullying and notes that approximately a third of apprentices had personal experiences of bullying. Study two extends this research by examining the relationship between bullying, life satisfaction, work satisfaction, study satisfaction and self-rated health. An [analysis of variance] ANOVA indicated that for those apprentices who had experienced bullying there was a significant relationship with decreased life satisfaction, decreased work satisfaction and poorer self-rated health. In addition, qualitative data in study two were explored using the Ungar et al (2008) model of resilience. This illustrated the potentially negative impact on young workers' resilience by highlighting the importance of contextual factors that amplify the experience of isolation, negative emotional consequences, and apprentices' decreased likelihood of reporting bullying for fear that bullying will continue

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